Activism and the Fight for Equality
The events depicted in the film are fictionalizations of actual events. Mark Ashton and the other members of the LGSM were real activists who fought for equality for the gay community as well as to help the miners achieve economic rights under Thatcherism. Mark, in particular, represents the relentless fight and advocacy exhibited by activists at the time. While he encounters many stumbling blocks, including apathy, homophobia, and indifference to the plight of the working class, he keeps fighting for what he believes is right. He teaches the other characters in the film that it is important to fight for justice and equality, even when the fight is difficult and victory unlikely.
Throughout the film, each character must contend with their own political consciousness and make choices around their own principles as British citizens. Joe chooses to join the cause in spite of not even being out of the closet. The Welsh townspeople stand up for the LGSM even when so many miners are skeptical about getting help from a gay group. Jonathan and Gethin join in the fight, in spite of the fact that they are older and already fought for Gay Liberation. The film depicts a group of people working together to make the world a more equal place, even when it is not personally advantageous or easy for them to do so. Thus, it is perhaps the most important theme in the film.
Overcoming prejudice
Both the LGSM and the mining community face prejudice in their own ways. More explicitly, homophobia is a huge problem in England, with many straight Brits dismissing the gay community as hedonistic, sinful, and pushing a nefarious agenda. Likewise, there are many members of the gay community who are skeptical of helping out the mining community, because of their own traumatizing experiences of homophobia in their working-class backgrounds. Miners and homosexuals are not exactly a match made in heaven, yet there are leaders in each community that help shepherd the community's members towards understanding across differences. By recognizing that they share a common enemy in the state and the police force, the mining community and the gay community can overlook their prejudices to work together. They learn that they actually have much to learn from and offer to one another, and this strengthens their political solidarity.
Parental relationships
Many of the members of the LGSM have fraught relationships with their families. Gethin is reluctant to return to Wales at first, as he has a poor relationship with his own mother, who raised him in Wales. By finding acceptance among the older figures in Onllwyn, Gethin becomes motivated to make amends with his own mother, and they forge a new relationship based in acceptance and healing. By contrast, the young Joe must come to terms with the fact that his parents are bigoted and not accepting of his identity; he only finds peace once he makes a clean break from his family. He chooses a new family, in the gay community as well as the mining community, and this becomes his source of love and acceptance.
Unity
The miners and the LGSM are more effective when they are working together and when they are unified within their own movements. The plot and the movement falls apart when they lose this unity. Maureen, a bigoted member of the Onllwyn community, goes behind other members of the committee to refuse the support of the LGSM, which harms their cause. As a result, the LGSM falls apart as well.
It is not until the end of the film that the groups come together to once again fight for a common cause. When the LGSM arrives at the pride parade, they are unified to some extent, but also quibble about the breakaway lesbian group that has formed. Interrupting the argument, Joe insists that the most important thing about their movement is their ability to fight together. It is at this moment that several buses full of miners arrive at the march to walk with the LGSM in the parade. The film ends with a stunning tableau of unity and working together.
Joy
Another big theme in the film is joy. Not only is the film a tonally lighthearted and joyful one, but the characters espouse joy in their activism and their lives. When the LGSM descends on the Welsh town, they teach the miners how to have a good party, with Jonathan leading the charge as an un-self-conscious dancer at a party at the Welfare Hall. The gay group has a lot to teach the town, not only about activism, but about having fun and enjoyment.
This ethic of joy is reflected in the tone of the film. While dispiriting and upsetting events occur in the narrative, they never deflate the lively and cheeky tone of the film, which is filled with humor about the events and the unlikely marriage between the gay community and the mining community.
Loss
Loss is an important theme in the film, though it does not show up all that often. The gay activists in the film choose to focus on what they can win and what they have, and they bring this lesson to the mining community, which worries about the loss of its economic opportunities. When the theme of loss comes up more explicitly, it is in relation to the AIDS epidemic. Towards the end of the film, we learn that Jonathan was one of the first British men diagnosed with HIV, but that he remains healthy, a miracle he attributes to his love of marijuana. Then, at the very end, we learn that at the time of the film's release, the real-life Jonathan is still alive. Soon after that, we learn that the young activist Mark Ashton died at 26 due to complications from AIDS. While the film does not dwell on the looming threat of AIDS, it pops up at several pivotal moments and casts a shadow over so much of the joy that is taking place.
Pride and Being Unapologetic
As the title and the themes suggest, pride and shamelessness are major themes in the film. Mark and Jonathan perhaps typify this ethic most outspokenly. When insults and bigoted language are hurled at the group, Mark insists that they ought to take those insults and wear them as a badge of honor. His entire belief about hate is that it can just as easily be turned into self-love, and this philosophy informs all his work as an activist. This philosophy also extends to the miners, who are buoyed by the support of the LGSM and begin to feel more confident in their ability to stand their ground against Thatcherism because of it.
